Calfe



(No Model.)

G. W. METGALPE 86 M. F. HABER.

TORPEDO SIGNAL PLACER.

No. 284,463. Patented Sept. 4, 1883.

' MENTOR:- 4 W p n. J

I r BY 2 ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES 9- 4/56 m /V M.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GTLSON WARNER METOALFE AND MAXIMILIAN FREDRIQK HABER, OF

' BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

TORPEDO-SIGNAL PLACER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,463, dated September 4, 1883.

Application filed April 9, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GILsoN WARNER lVIET- CALFE and MAXIMILIAN FREDRICK HABER, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Torpedo-Signal Placers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings,

forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to devices for placing torpedo-signals on a railway-track by a moving train, the object being to save the time required for so placing them by hand; and the invention consists of the novel construction hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a part of a railway-car, showing one way in which our torpedo-placer may be attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a top view of the torpedo-placing wheel. Fig. 8 is a cross-section of the wheel and rail, showing the torpedo set in the wheel; and Fig. 4 is a section of the rail, showing the torpedo secured thereto.

after having been transferred from the wheel.

A indicates a wheel having two flanges, a a, adapted to overlap the sides of a rail, to pre vent the wheel from leaving the same when placed thereon. The peripheral surface of the wheel between the flanges is provided with. a groove, B, made somewhat narrower than the said surface, so as to form annular shoulders, I) b, by which the wheel is to be supported on the rail (3. In the flanges a a, which are beveled on their inner sides, are formed a series of transverse recesses, d d, those in one flange being directly opposite to those in the other. These recesses are formed in the interior surfaces of the flanges, and are made of such a depth that their bottoms shall form shoulders h h, which lie without the circle of the shon1- ders b b. The transverse recesses do not extend through the flanges, but have outer walls,

e 0, provided with inward-extending catches f f, under which the two ends of the metal strip 9, to which the torpedo D is secured, are adapted to be sprung or placed to hold the torpedo in the wheel preparatory to being transferred to the rail. Thebody of the strip 9 is straight, and rests in the bottoms of the recesses 11 d, and its ends are curved' outward, as shown in the drawings, so that when the wheel is lowered to the track, and the rail bends the strip 9 at the center and moves the torpedo into the groove B, the shoulders h h in the flanges a a will cause the curved ends of the strip to bend under the sides or flanges of the rail and attach the torpedo thereto.

It will be seen that the groove B serves to protect the torpedo from pressure or concussion during the act of bending the strip 9 around the rail.

The wheelA is to be supported in any suitable frame, E, which is to be'attached to the rearinost car of a train, and adapted to be lowered to the rail at the will of the conductor when a signal is to be given to a train follow ing in the rear. The nature of the signal given willbe determined by the number of torpedoes deposited on the rail in one place.

What we claim as our invention is A torpedo-placing wheel bar ing two flanges provided with recesses receiving the ends of the torpedo-strip, and forming shoulders upon said flanges, and a groove between the flanges to receive and shield the torpedo when by contact of the rail the said shoulders bend the strip inward to cause its ends to engage with the rail, substantially as shown and described.

GILSON WARNER METCALFE. MAXIMILIAN FREDRICK HABER.

' Witnesses:

THOMAS F. LINTHIOUM, WILLIAM KLEIINHENN. 

